


rose garden

by damnmysterytome



Series: kastle week fics [4]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, flower shop/tattoo artist au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-11
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-06-07 19:54:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6821806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damnmysterytome/pseuds/damnmysterytome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frank stares at the amount of flowers sitting in his Grandmothers flower shop, a scowl written on his face. They aren't flowers from the shop, they were from the funeral.</p><p>“You'd think people would think of something far more creative than flowers to send to a flower shop owners funeral.” A gentle voice lifts Frank's head up and he's looking at a blonde woman. There's a small smile on her face, a bit sad and a bit welcoming.</p><p>“My thoughts exactly.” Frank says. The blonde stops at one of the flowers and picks up the card, reading over what it says. “Who are you?”</p><p>“I'm Karen, I own the place next door.”</p><p>“Nail salon?”</p><p>“Tattoo parlor.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	rose garden

Frank stares at the amount of flowers sitting in his Grandmothers flower shop, a scowl written on his face. They aren't flowers from the shop, they were from the funeral.

“You'd think people would think of something far more creative than flowers to send to a flower shop owners funeral.” A gentle voice lifts Frank's head up and he's looking at a blonde woman. There's a small smile on her face, a bit sad and a bit welcoming.

“My thoughts exactly.” Frank says. The blonde stops at one of the flowers and picks up the card, reading over what it says. “Who are you?”

“I'm Karen, I own the place next door.”

“Nail salon?”

“Tattoo parlor.”

Frank raises an eyebrow as she says she owns the tattoo shop and he suddenly remembers the drawing of his Grandmother that had been displayed at the funeral.

“You don't look like you own a tattoo parlor.” Frank says with a grin on his face. It's probably the first time he's smiled since his Grandmother died.

“That's the point.” Karen says with a smile as she comes towards him.

She stops when she's across from him in front of the counter and her hands press down onto the counter. From what he can see, Karen doesn't have a single tattoo. She's wearing a white blouse with blue and yellow flowers and a right skirt that comes to her knees and heels that click on the floor. “I just wanted to um... Extend my condolences in person. You're Frank, right? Her grandson.”

Frank nods slowly. “You were friends with her?”

“Yeah, I know it's weird and all, but... She was my friend. I just... I hate funerals so I didn't go.” She whispers. Frank stares her down and she stares him down.

“The drawing, was that from you?” He asks.

“It was. Is. It was... How I coped with it. And I didn't want to send flowers, so I thought my art... Would be enough.”

Frank watches her. She's sad about his Grandmother, maybe as sad as he is. He doesn't really want this place, but he cant sell it or let it fail. This is the last thing he has of his Grandmother. He nods slowly and clears his throat. “I, uh, I've hung it up in my place, if that's cool. Unless you want it back.”

Karen smiles and her eyes water a bit but she shakes her head. “You keep it, Frank, it's for you.”

“Did she talk about me much?”

“Yeah, she did. Rose loved to talk about her grandson the Marine. She was proud of you.” Karen says softly.

Their eyes meet and linger on each other until two small voices belonging to two small bodies come from the back of the shop, two heads poking out from the back. “Daddy, we're hungry!” The little blonde girl says.

Frank turns his head back to the kids and he nods. “We'll go get lunch in a minute, alright, Lisa?” She nods and she and her little brother duck back into the back of the shop and Karen smiles at him as their laughter fills the back room.

“There's a restaurant down the street. It's called Foggy's. Makes a really good mac and cheese.” Karen says softly. “You should take them there.” She turns around on her heels and walks away from Frank. He doesn't say anything, he just watches her leave.

  
  


* * *

 

Frank steps into the tattoo parlor and looks around as he slips his hands in his pockets. He's been in tattoo parlor before from his time in the Marine's and it was nothing like this. It's neat and clean, organized. Just one look at Karen and you can tell this is the kind of place she'd own.

The gallery of basic tattoos she does reminds him of the collection of posters you find at the mall. Each frame has probably close to fifty designs on it, give or take a few. Depending on the sizes. Each page is signed with her name.

Across the gallery is a collection of specialty tattoos she's done, the sketch she did and a photo of the actual tattoo. She's a damn good artist.

“Hey, sorry, I'm just finishing up an appo- Frank?” Karen's voice catches his attention and he turns to look at Karen. She tilts her head to the side and smiles softly. “Looking to get a tattoo?” She asks.

Frank laughs and shakes his head. Tattoos had never been his thing. “Nah, but it can wait. Until you're done with your appointment.”

She points towards the waiting area, two chairs and a table that has a few magazines and another portfolio, before turning back and heading into the back of her parlor. Frank takes a seat in one of the chairs and picks up the portfolio, looking through it. She's done a wide variety of tattoos, everything from just words to profiles. He's definitely impressed.

It's another twenty minutes before Karen and a dark haired woman leave the back. The arm of the woman is covered in a bandage and there's a smile on her red painted lips. “Make sure you keep it covered for a few days, then get that lotion I told you about.”

“Yes, ma'am.” The other woman playfully salutes Karen before pulling her leather jacket over her shoulders and heading out of the parlor. Karen comes around the counter and towards Frank, sitting in the chair across from him.

“What are you doing here?” She says. Karen's still wearing the white gloves she wears when she's tattooing.

Frank chews on his cheek for a second. “I was, uh, I was just hoping we'd could get something to eat, actually. I just... Wanted to talk about my Grandma.”

Karen watches him for a second and she nods, standing to her feet. “Just give me a second.” She says, turning around and heading to the back of the parlor again. She resurfaces a few minutes later, without gloves and with a jacket and her purse.

“Ready?” Frank asks as he stands to his feet. Karen nods and Frank walks over to the door, opening it up for Karen. She flips over the open sign to closed and steps out with Frank, shutting the door behind her and locking up.

“Your kids like Foggy's?” She asks when she turns back to look at him. Foggy's is the closest restaurant to their stores, she assumes it'll be the same place they go. She's right.

“Yeah, thanks. Lisa loved the mac and cheese.” He says.

“What's your little boys name?”

“Frank Jr.”

“Oh come on, really?”

Frank laughs at her comment and watches her face. “My late wife insisted.”

“Give my condolences to your son.” She teases.

He scoffs and shakes his head, stopping at the crosswalk. “Nothin' wrong with the name Frank.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”

* * *

 

Karen and Frank sit across from each other in a booth at Foggy's, a plate of chicken wings, two bowls of mac and cheese, and two milkshakes between them.

“What did you want to talk about Rose for?” Karen asks, licking her fingers clean of barbecue sauce. Frank looks up from his bowl of mac and cheese and shrugs. With a name like Rose, it's no wonder she ended up opening up a flower shop.

“How'd you guys become friends?”

“I had this boyfriend and uh, he was.... He was abusive and Rose saw it. She never saw him hit me but she just knew that.. I don't know how she knew, but she knew.” Karen bit down on her bottom lip and glanced her plate before looking up at him. “She was the one who convinced me to leave him, and when I broke things off, he didn't really take that well.”

Karen starts to explain, picking up her napkin and wiping her fingers off then her face. She sets the napkin on top of her plate and sighs. “Uh, he kept coming by and he wouldn't leave for hours, I'd have to threaten to call the cops. And then um, one day he wouldn't leave and Rose came over and scared him off with her shotgun. Told him if he ever came back again, she'd uh. Blow his heads off.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Grandma.” Frank says with a laugh. Karen takes a drink from her milkshake and goes on. “Did you, um, when she got sick -”

“Are you asking me if I tried to talk her out of not getting treatment?” Karen asks, pushing her cup away from her. Frank nods and Karen purses her lips. “I asked if she was sure. She said she didn't want to spend her last days in a hospital bed in pain, that she didn't want to... Waste it. Doctors said treatment wouldn't do anything so... I didn't try to talk her out of it but... I made sure that her last months were good, that she... got to do the things that she wanted to do and she didn't die alone.”

Frank clears his throat and he glances down at his hands. “After I moved out of Hell's Kitchen after my wife died a few years ago, I just... I got so busy with the kids that I..”

Karen cuts him off. “She understood, Frank. She missed you, but she understood. I don't think I ever heard her mention your kids, though.” She frowns a bit, but shrugs her shoulders. A woman was allowed her secrets. Rose Castle wasn't an exception to the rule. “What are you going to do with the shop?”

He looks up at Karen and shrugs. “I don't know. I don't know shit about flowers but it's the last thing I have of her. I can't just sell it.”

“You could always take some classes about floral arrangements and then just run the shop.” She teases with a playful grin.

Frank scoffs at the idea of doing that and shakes his head, picking up his fork and stabbing pieces of the macaroni before he brings it up to his mouth and pulls it up to his lips. He can't believe that mac and cheese is that delicious. “You know, I could probably bathe in this mac and cheese.”

Karen laughs and nods, tapping her fingers along her bowl. “Yeah, I thought the same thing the first time I ever had Foggy's mac and cheese.”

“What the hell kind of name is Foggy anyway?”

“I have absolutely no idea, but as long as he makes this good of mac and cheese, I would call him whatever he wants.”

* * *

 

Frank knocks on the door to Karen's tattoo parlor, knowing that she lives above the shop and is typically awake by five AM. Frank Jr is in his arms, his head buried in his dad's shoulder. Lisa is standing next to him, holding a teddy bear close to her chest.

Karen appears from the back of the shop a few moments later. She's in a large Metallica t-shirt and a pair of shorts, her hair up in a bun at the top of her head. She's holding a coffee mug in her hands and walks to the door, unlocking the door and opening it up.

“Frank? Are you okay?” She asks, looking up at him.

“Hey, I need, can you watch Lisa?” He asks, looking down at Lisa. Frank and Karen had been spending a good amount of time together but she hadn't really spent a lot of time with his kids one on one. With him, yes. “Frank Jr.'s running a fever and he's vomiting blood, I gotta take him up to the ER.”

Karen nods and reaches her hand out for Lisa, who takes it and steps into the tattoo parlor. “Yeah, I'll watch her. I hope he's okay.”

“Yeah, me too.” Frank says and leans down to kiss Lisa's forehead before he heads back to his car. Karen shuts the door and watches him put Frank Jr. in the backseat of the car and run around to the drivers side. She looks down at Lisa and bites down on her bottom lip.

Lisa's only eight, how is Karen supposed to entertain an eight year old? “Can I go back to bed?” Lisa asks, looking up at Karen. Karen tries not to let out a breath of relief when she asks her that.

“Yeah, sweetheart, come on.” Karen says and leads her through the back of the tattoo parlor and upstairs. She lets Lisa take her bed and sets up shop at her table in the kitchen to work on some designs. She's only got two appointments today and even if they take a few hours, she's sure Lisa won't mind just hanging around.

“What are tattoos?” Lisa asks when Karen is working on a back piece for a client. Lisa's been watching Karen work on the large forest piece. It has to be done in sections, in two hour sections.

“It's... Artwork on the skin. Permanent.” Karen says, glancing over at her. She's been sitting on the floor working on some school work Karen had to break into Frank's apartment to get. How does she explain a tattoo to an eight year old that doesn't make them appealing at that age? She returns to working on the tattoo for a few more minutes until Lisa speaks again.

“Sounds painful.”

“Hurts like a fuckin' bitch.”

Lisa gasps at the curses, even if she's heard her father say them, and Karen presses down a little extra when she returns to working on his back.

“Do you have any tattoos?” Lisa asks Karen while they're eating lunch. Foggy brought over some of his famous mac and cheese for the pair of them as a favor to his friend.

“No, I don't.” She says.

“Why not?”

“I like giving them more than I like the idea of getting one.” She shrugs. Every time Karen is asked how she can give tattoos but not have any, she gives a different response. Out of habit.

“Will you give me one?”

Karen snorts at the idea and then nods, having the perfect idea. She spends the night few hours with her body pens, drawing designs on Lisa's arms.

There's a knock on her door later in the night and Karen stands to her feet from the floor where there's a discarded pizza box between them. Lisa's fallen asleep on the floor while they were watching a movie and Karen had been worried that she'd wake up if she tried to move her, so she let her sleep.

She stands to her feet and walks over to the door, looking in the peep hole before she opens it up. “Hey,” She says when Frank's face is available to her. “Hows Frank Jr.?”

“Good.” Frank says as he comes into the apartment, running a hand through his hair. “They got his fever down but they want to keep him for the night. They wouldn't let me stay.”

“I'm sorry, Frank.” She says softly and grasps his arm. He nods and turns to look at her, trying to smile. His top lip twitches up a bit but he doesn't say much else. “Lisa's asleep on the floor... I was worried I'd wake her if I moved her.”

Frank follows her towards the living room and he chuckles. “Tattoos?”

“Body pens, they'll wash off next time she takes a bath.” He leans down and lifts his daughter up in his arms. She adjusts but doesn't wake up.

“Put her in my bed, you guys can both stay. It'll be easier since you'll just leave in the morning and you won't have to bring her back.”

Frank nods and takes Lisa back to Karen's bedroom. He sets her in the bed and kisses her forehead and heads back out to the living room. Karen's picking up the pizza box and their glasses, watching her intently. “Thanks for watching her.”

“You knew I wouldn't turn you away.” She says with a smile as she sets the pizza box down on the stove and puts the glasses in the sink. “I actually had a good time with her.” Karen says with a smile.

He walks over to her when she turns back to him and cups the sides of her face before leaning down to press his lips into hers. Karen's surprised at first but she returns his kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck as she pulls his mouth down to her.

 


End file.
